Posted by John Boyd
on 22 Feb 2011. Filed under Legislation, Top news.
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Government turns attention to mayors’ salaries

Today the government moved ahead with its intention to slash the salaries of local mayors, by way of a revision to the Act on Mayors’ Remunerations.

The proposed amendment, which was submitted by coalition party SaS, wants to cut the salaries of local mayors by 10%, cancel their bonuses and reduce the current severance pay from five times the average wage to just threefold. It also limits the salary approval rights of local councils.

Even though the revision has been backed by MPs of all coalition parties, it will still have to gain at least 76 votes in parliament, about which the government cannot be totally certain these days.

Prime Minister Iveta Radicova herself proposed making a completely new revision as she did not agree with some provisions of the proposal. The MPs that are submitting the revision proposal, however, say that the draft was produced by negotiations and the agreement of all four coalition parties, and so has already been subjected to various compromises.

The Ministry of Interior prepared a draft revision of its own, which would also stop local councils from increasing the salaries of mayors altogether. At the moment they can hike a mayor’s salary by 100%, and according to the latest revision proposal, this option would be cut to 70% maximum.

The draft revision will be put before parliament at its March session.